Sunday, 1 April 2012

Nikko & Nichimoku Shonin

Every day during the second prayer we give praise and gratitude to two of Nichiren Daishonin's disciples, but who were they and why are we thankful to them?

NIKKO SHONIN

Nikko Shonin met
Nichiren Daishonin at Jisso-ji temple in 1258 when he was 12!Nichiren was researching its sutra library
while preparing for On Establishing the
Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land.

Nikko Shonin started to devotedly
serve Nichiren and joined him during his Izu Exile when he was 15, where he
converted a priest of the Shingon school to Nichiren’s teachings.

Nikko Shonin recorded the lectures
Nichiren gave on the Lotus Sutra and collected them together in The Record of the Orally Transmitted
Teachings.

When Nichiren died, Nikko Shonin was
the only one of the six senior priests who fulfilled the commitment to watch
over his tomb.They all denied they were
followers of Nichiren’s teachings due to pressure from authorities and declared
they were priests of the Tendai school.

Nikko Shonin's life was spent
promoting Nichiren’s teachings, educating disciples and collecting together
Nichiren’s writings, which he called the Gosho
(honourable writings)

NICHIMOKU SHONIN

At 14 he witnessed a religious debate at
Izu-san temple between the senior priests and Nichiren’s disciple Nikko.He was so impressed he became Nikko’s
disciple and served and supported Nichiren Daishonin.

Shortly before Nichiren’s death a
Tendai priest challenged him to a debate.Nichiren appointed Nichimoku to represent him, and Nichimoku beat the
priest by winning every one of 10 rounds of doctrinal debate.

After Nichiren died, Nichimoku
supported Nikko in keeping watch over the tomb and also devoted himself to
propagating Nichiren’s teachings.

Nichimoku
Shonin is remembered for his commitment to practice and propagate Nichiren’s
Buddhism.He also remonstrated more than
forty-two times with the Kamakura government and the imperial court at Kyoto to
encourage them to adopt Nichiren’s teachings.

I found some of this information and the pictures from another Buddhist website about 8 months ago, but since then that site seems to have closed.

9 comments:

Thank you, this was such a clear explanation! I googled both names today because I knew of Nikko Shonin, but did not have a clear picture on the role of Nichimoku Shonin. Its a nice dynamic of doctrinal mentor-disciple bonds that allowed this initial phase of Latter Day propagation to initiate. I truly understand why we thank them in our silent prayers.

I can't wait to check out the rest of this blog! I'm an SGI member from UC Davis, and I truly cherish this practice and organization. Because of NMHRK, I am able to undergo a human revolution allowing myself to shed my previous insecure and self-pity lifestyle to fight for the happiness of humanity alongside our mentor, Daisaku Ikeda. What remarkable actual proof I am getting daily! Thank you for having this blog :)

I'm an SGI member of 20 years, and do so appreciate the information. Lately I have made a commitment to connect with our prayers more completely - especially the second prayer. Thank you from Santa Cruz, California!

I am an SGI member from India and have been doing my prayers regularly ,,,,Tgerecis always a desire to know a little more about our mentors and founders .I watched a YouTube video on Nichiren,s life and it has hit embedded in my memory .Sensei keeps writing about JOsei Toda but I still wish to know more about Nikko and nachimukko shining both .

WHAT ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE BELIEF THAT NICHIMOKU SHONIN WILL REAPPEAR AT THE TIME OF KOSENRUFU? dID ANYONE REMONSTRATE WITH THE PRIESTS AT TAISEKEJI IN 1991-92?ANSWER: YES AND TWO nEW gOHONZON WERE INSCRIBED AND SENT TO pRESIDENT iKEDA AT THAT TIME AS WELL.

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I have been a member of the Soka Gakkai since November 2001 when I received Gohonzon and I now practice in Hounslow, London.

I am not an official spokesperson for the SGI but just want to share my knowledge of our practice, hopefully inspiring non-members to start practising and encourage existing members to develop their faith and understanding.